The Case for Support

The Case for Support

About Chanticleer: An Orchestra of Voices

Chanticleer fascinates and enthralls for much the same reason a fine chocolate or a Rolls Royce does: through luxurious perfection.

— Los Angeles Times

We are men who sing a cappella, blending twelve voices from contra-bass to the riveting sound of the American countertenor – distinctly recognizable, unchallenged in our niche and viewed as the gold standard in choral music. We sing to enchant, captivate and inspire, as we educate and create superb music for everyone to enjoy. Our virtuoso performance style is enriching, intellectually broadening and spiritually transporting. Our relationship to our audiences is profound and personal.

Chanticleer's Uniqueness

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Chanticleer's Uniqueness

Our dedication to artistic integrity is constant and undiminished, as is our commitment to singing challenging music and a highly diverse and innovative repertoire that ranges from Gregorian chant to gospel, folk, jazz and contemporary classics. The music we sing regularly demonstrates our passion for newly composed works and our enthusiasm for encouraging new compositional talent. For many years we have been Warner Classics #1 seller of classical CDs.

Chanticleer is a full-time, professional vocal ensemble that in its close to 40-year lifetime has:

Won two Grammy® Awards

Made over 40 recordings, selling over a million copies worldwide

Been inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame

Performed in 32 countries and in every state of the union

Received multiple awards that include the ASCAP/Chorus America Adventurous Programming Award 2008, Musical America Ensemble of the Year (2008), Chorus America Education and Outreach Award (2010), Brazeal Wayne Dennard award for the advancement of African American music (2014).

We perform live in local, regional, national and international venues, large and small, including some of the world’s great concert halls like Vienna’s Musikverein, Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, Prague's Rudolfinum, Budapest's Lizst Academy, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and at major American music festivals such as Ravinia and Tanglewood as well as to many prestigious European festivals. Regular tours in Asia include returns to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, adding Macao in 2015.

Encouragement to SinG

Through Music Education

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Encouragement to SinG

Through Music Education

Chanticleer is well known and highly regarded for our long-standing education programs, which started in 1986 with Singing in the Schools TM now in its 29nd year. The programs include Youth Choral Festivals in San Francisco and selected cities across the country, and a National Choral Festival for 350 participants from around the country every five years. Together with our International Young Composer Competition, National College and University Residency Workshops, the Louis A. Botto (LAB) Choir and Chanticleer in Sonoma: Annual Summer Workshops for Adults, Chanticleer's systematic programs provide education and opportunities to singers of all ages. Approximately 5,000 students each year are nurtured through Chanticleer’s investment in their musical education led by a full-time Education Director often with the participation of the performing ensemble.

Enthusiasm for New Music

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Enthusiasm for New Music

We are greatly admired for our unwavering commitment to and enthusiasm for new composers, especially American composers, whose works bring new depth and breadth to our already expansive repertoire. To date, we have commissioned more than 70 composers to write more than 100 original works and arrangements.

Collective Music-Making

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Collective Music-Making

Americans love to sing! So much so that one in fifteen Americans belongs to a chorus and many belong to more than one, according to statistics compiled by the National Endowment for the Arts. Choral singing has the broadest participation of all the performing arts and this participation crosses all demographic and socio-economic lines, fostering real-time personal interaction. Amateur choral singers form a solid core of Chanticleer’s fan base, sharing with the ensemble their personal experience of the discipline and joy of singing with others.

Vision

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Vision

Thirty years ago Louis Botto brought together a group of men to sing the little known music of the European Renaissance. This happened in San Francisco during a time of remarkable cultural development, which coincided with, and became part of the Early Music revival of the late 1970s. Chanticleer, named for the clear-singing rooster in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, first performed in San Francisco’s Mission Dolores, featuring works by medieval and renaissance composers, the foundation of the ensemble’s repertoire. Soon enough, Chanticleer was on the road, embarking on a journey that explored its way through big cities and small towns, churches and concert halls, introducing an innovative and demanding repertoire covering nine centuries of music while connecting music lovers to the Chanticleer sound and to one another. It has been and continues to be an inspired journey, sustained by extraordinary musicality, superior performance, enduring and distinctive impact and the shared vision of singers and audiences that this music must continue.

What We Need to Do

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What We Need to Do

Chanticleer proves that the human voice is truly the king of instruments

— Christian Science Monitor

Chanticleer is its 38th year of operation as a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, raising from contributions half of the funds necessary to support our “orchestra of voices” and our core commitment to singing, educating and creating our alluring brand of sound well into the future in a sustainable, systematic and structurally sound way.

As a supporter you ensure that we can:

Preserve and steward the “Chanticleer sound” by assuring full-time employment for Chanticleer's singers and Music Director

Bolster our outreach to our local, regional, national and international audiences

Continue to serve over 5,000 students per year in our award winning education program, includes through the Louis A. Botto (LAB) Choir and Bay Area and national Youth Choral Festivals.

Maintain our established leadership in the creation of new works and arrangements that expand the choral repertoire.